Chinnor U15s win one, lose one and draw two against Ampthill

With 31 visitors and 29 Chinnor players, four 30-minute matches were played on adjacent pitches, each with even teams. Ampthill are one of the few clubs who, like Chinnor, can field two teams at this age group.

On pitch 3, the whistle blew for what was to be Chinnor's only win of the day. The team, lead by Ben G, started the half with determination and soon had points on the board. Although Ampthill gave a good account of themselves, by the end of 30 minutes Chinnor were leading comfortably.

Meanwhile on pitch 4, there was a closer contest with Ampthill going up 7 points within two minutes of starting. This woke the Chinnor boys up who started to play more expansive rugby. The defence was good and it took a few minutes before Ben M was able to tear through their defensive line to score under the posts. The second Chinnor try went to Chris on the wing after a well-worked sequence of play from a penalty on the other side of the pitch. In the last minute of the half, one man down due to injury, Ampthill probed Chinnor's defence sucking in players before shipping the ball out for a player to break the line and even the score.

At half time, the Chinnor teams swapped pitches to take on the other Ampthill teams.

On pitch 3, the Chinnor boys didn't start as well as they would have liked to with Ampthill scoring early. Finlay showed his prowess picking up a loose ball and running wide to score. Ampthill responded by repeatedly sending in their big runners and made good ground. Chinnor's defence was not up to this pressure with some tackles missed and some not as low as needed. Eventually Ampthill were rewarded for their efforts with an unconverted try. Ben S read the game well and intercepted a pass to go on to score a try. Ampthill went on to score twice more for their only win of the day.

Back on pitch 4, another close contest followed this time with Chinnor scoring early. The match then ebbed and flowed for ten minutes before Ampthill broke through for a try. Chinnor then put the pressure on Ampthill for a good ten minutes with the opposition having to soak up a lot of pressure. Will V was denied two tries, both held up by a determined Ampthill defence. Dylan was denied a try being marginally in touch and credit to both teams, neither lost their nerve defending or attacking. Chinnor came away with a well deserved try and looked the more dominant. However Ampthill were not giving up and spun the ball wide to break through for a try in the closing minute to secure the draw.

Chinnor players may be a little frustrated at the one loss, but there were lots of positives to take away. All in all, a good morning of rugby against quality opposition who are a strong club and share our values about playing mixed teams. Thank you to Rob (Ampthill's referee) and John V who stepped up to cover the U16s match.